


Pioneer's Aria

by Silius1



Category: ACE Academy (Visual Novel)
Genre: Reader-Interactive
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:02:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27202886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silius1/pseuds/Silius1
Summary: Soon approaching the turn of the century in the year 2049, the mechanized robots commonly called GEAR were initially developed for military application. Since then, their versatile functionality has led them to not only become commonplace in commercial use, but also spawned an entire sports entertainment industry as the prevalent use and popularity of GEARs has created a new academic field known as “Cenorobotics”.Following a tragic incident within the ranks of US team: Hyperdrive, one of its newer pilots: Kiana Urson found it necessary to leave the stigma associated with her and re-establish herself in a new community based around Isokaze's Ace Academy.
Relationships: Original Character(s)/Original Character(s)





	1. Chapter 1

“Attention passengers, we will be arriving at our destination shortly. Please ensure you have all your belongings prior to exiting.” Following this announcement from the train director, one of the passengers riding noticed the woman sitting next to him was still asleep as he gently nudged her shoulder, noting her shiny black hair with some red highlights above her left eye, wearing a fashionable black hoodie colored red on the inside, a red skirt, and long black socks

“Miss, we’re almost at Isokaze station, it’s time to wake up.” The pair exchanged a very small number of words between them when they got onto the train, the woman saying that she was headed for Isokaze despite knowing the train ride was going to take about ten hours, having gone to sleep almost immediately after since she was tired from the eighteen hour long plane ride from New York to Japan which normally would be fourteen, but to her chagrin, there was a four hour delay before take-off.

Slowly rousing herself from her slumber, Kiana reoriented herself as she turned to face the fading orange color of the late evening sky reflecting off of the ocean in the distance, with plenty of natural life and vegetation in sight despite the urbanization of the city, Kiana smiling at the sight of such extravagant nature since she lived in metropolitan New York with so little nature left in the city, Central Park being one of the only places left, before returning her focus toward the person next to her “Thank you sir.”

Despite the smile she gave in gratitude for him waking her up, the memory of what forced her to move made her despondent because of how severe it was, something she’d rather keep quiet about as much as she can. Five minutes passed as the train pulled into the station, signaling the people within to disembark as Kiana joined the crowds of businessmen, travelers, and other such people. After setting foot on the station, Kiana pulled out her phone as she looked at a map of the city, typing in the address of where her grandmother lives, having talked with her earlier that week and after hearing about what happened to her, she asked Kiana to get away from such toxicity, offering her residence for a time until she could get her feet established.

* * *

Knowing that she lives a fair distance away, Kiana exited the building and called for a taxi as they headed eastward, seeing a house with a rather rustic traditional design contrasting with the modern designs of the other houses in the neighborhood after an hour’s drive, recognizing it as her grandmother’s from the times she spent there as a child. Smiling at how little changed from how she remembered it, she walked up to the door and rang the doorbell but felt increasingly concerned when she spent twenty minutes waiting before she heard the sounds of footsteps behind her, recognizing him as one of her grandmother’s neighbors: Takao Takagi

“Pardon me, but may I ask who you are?”

“Don’t you remember me Takagi-san? It’s me: Kiana Urson. My grandmother lives here.”

“OH! Now that you mention it, yeah. I recognize you from all the pictures she’s shown me. That, and the times you’ve visited as a little kid.” Takao paused as his expression suggested a thought came to his mind “Did you not hear what happened?”

“No? I had my phone off during the flight and I kept my tablet and laptop among my luggage so I didn’t have access to it. Did she move away?”

Takao frowned at the comment Kiana had made, knowing that what he is about to say will hurt her, especially when she’s still reeling from the events in New York, having learned of it because her grandmother had conveyed it to him. But he knows that lying to her about what’s going on could end up hurting her far more in the long run and playing silent would likely infuriate Kiana once the truth is known “I’m really sorry to say this, but erm...your grandmother actually passed away.”

“S-She...what…?” This really confused Kiana since she had spoken to her not long ago and she had appeared completely fine. Looking at her cell phone, she saw that she received a phone call and double checked its registry on her tablet to find it came from a local crematory service, possibly trying to reach her last of kin in Kiana, the message saying that she had passed away early that very morning “Y-You’re right.”

“It’s a shame really, she was such a kind woman, and capable for her age despite being 106. She was looking forward to seeing you. Unfortunately, the bank is already making preparations to demolish the house, they’ve been eyeing this place for a few years now actually. Of course, they have some valid reasons since your grandmother had refused renovations for decades now. They’re going to rebuild the property and ensure everything is up to the architectural guidelines commonplace.”

“Wait, it’s legal to do that when she died so recently?”

“Mmm...it’s debatable on that one. But she did anticipate this so she actually transferred what she could to my possession and asked that it be sent to you, mostly finances and pictures since they were things she could hide easily. She saved up about three hundred and fifty thousand yen to give to you.”

“So around three grand in US dollars. Thank you Takagi-san, but I can’t accept that right now. I need to get my bearings straight and I have money to help sustain me for a while. But if I’m in a lose-lose situation, I’ll take it. Would you happen to know if my grandmother was able to work out my transfer papers to Ace Academy?” ‘ _Being a pilot is going to be awkward for me since Hyperdrive seized my Gear before kicking me out so I don’t have her anymore._ ’

“Sorry, I don’t know. Knowing her though, you could say that she’s already worked it out, but it would still be for next year. You know your grandmother, she had the drive and capability of someone in their thirties or even twenties, aside from the more physically demanding tasks, and she’d do anything to help her family.”

“Haha yeah, I remember her wanting to make sure I was impressed when she first met me when I was four or five and tried doing a triple back-flip; my parents told me years later she had to go see a doctor to undergo some surgery since she threw out her back. Anyway yeah, what you said makes sense, but at least I wouldn’t necessarily have to worry about being considered a school skipper or something of the sort. I should get out of your hair Takagi-san, thank you for everything.” Knowing the futility of the matter, Kiana readjusted her backpack and suitcase as she began to walk away.

“W-Wait, where are you going?”

“I’m going to go check into a hotel and work on something to get me out of this tricky situation.”

“It’s getting late and I wouldn’t want you getting lost. Besides, this isn’t the best neighborhood at night. I was close friends with your parents, they wouldn’t want their only child putting herself at risk. I can understand wanting to be independent, but how about you stay the night with us and then we can work on finding you what you need: a residence, employment, whatever you need.”

“Mmm...I suppose you’re right. I’ll take you up on your offer, though I remember that you don’t have any guest rooms.”

“Yeah, that’s the downside. On the other, we bought a very comfortable sofa bed last month. You can sleep there for the night. I’ll leave a blanket and pillow for you.”

* * *

Acknowledging that this would be safer for her to do, she decided to change her approach for the night, Kiana followed him into his residence, it being a fairly typical home in the country, small and cramped yet still comfortable and modern and having enough breathing room to walk about the rooms in the property

“I know it’s not as spacious as something you’d see over in the States, but make yourself at home. If you’re hungry, we have some left-over pizza in the fridge...they messed up our order and ended up giving us an extra. We were going to eat it in the morning, but feel free to eat if you wish.”

The mention of food made Kiana’s rumble loudly, making her cheeks blush a crimson red, as bright as her amber eyes, out of embarrassment as she hid herself behind her hands “Thank you. I didn’t really eat on the plane since their food doesn’t agree with me so I had a light lunch at WcDonny’s an hour before take-off. Eighteen hour flight, a ten hour train ride; so yeah, I haven’t had a chance to eat in twenty eight hours.”

“I’ll let my wife know you’ll be sleeping over tonight, but please avoid making a mess if you decide to eat.”

“I will, thank you.” After seeing Takao walk upstairs, Kiana walked over to the kitchen, inspecting the fridge’s interior as she found the pizza box on the bottom shelf, taking it out and opening it to find a truly repulsive sight as she looked at the toppings “EWWWW!!! Who the hell ordered a pineapple pizza?!?! It’s a topping that should never exist on something as holy as this. Uuu...I haven’t been able to eat anything in over a day but I...N-No...I’m not eating something this repulsive. Sorry, Takagi-san.”

Frowning in response to this discovery, Kiana shut the box and returned it to the fridge, moving over to the couch and unfolded the bed within, stripping down to her pajamas and crawled in to get some comfortable sleep for the first time since her move from New York but she had other business to focus on as she turned on her tablet and looked through employment websites, finding a restaurant close by that is hiring servers and chefs both on a full-time and part-time basis headed by someone called Kaito Hikari “Hmm, okay, I’ll give this place a try. I just hope they won’t be too insistent on background checks since I was forced out of my last job because of what happened with Hyperdrive.” After typing out her resume and everything required, she soon received a message that her application would be at 10 AM the next morning.

The fact she got a response so quickly actually caught her by surprise since she was expecting it to take a few hours, but at least she knows when to go in for her interview, however the suddenness introduced a stray thought that they’re more desperate than she thought.

With an interview scheduled, she then looked through what was available in Isokaze’s real estate agency, but to her dismay, the properties available were too expensive for her, even if she got hired. And putting icing on the cake was that she can’t get a place in Ace’s dorms since she’s not enrolled yet and it’ll take another year for that to take effect, but to her relief, she found a hotel in the relative vicinity of the mall the restaurant is in at a fairly inexpensive 4500 yen a night with a relaxed multiple booking policy since they don’t have many customers right now, and considering her immediate budget of 160,000 yen from what she had accumulated of her allowances, she can reliably stay there for about two and a half to three weeks before she’d be forced to rely on the money that her grandmother had built up for her “This is the worst timing for me. Everything collapsed around me and I have the weakest foundation for support. I’m glad Takagi-san was willing to go so far as to take me in but I can’t let myself rely on him for such an extended period of time. I need to be able to sustain myself.” Finally succumbing to the exhaustion that had been plaguing her, Kiana fell asleep like a rock despite sleeping on a bed completely foreign to her.

* * *

After waking up in the morning, Kiana filled Takao in about what she was working on, namely the interview she scheduled and looking through the real estate agency since Takao knows that she can’t stay with them too long because of the limited accommodations available, though he laughed at the disgust Kiana had about the pineapple pizza that had been brought to their house, to her chagrin and irritation as she puffed out her cheeks. After enjoying a proper breakfast with the five of them: Takao, his wife, their two children, and Kiana, Takao offered to drive Kiana over to the mall for the interview, partly because he had to go shopping anyway.

Once they made it to the mall, they exchanged a quick hug before parting ways, Kiana pulling out her phone and plugging in directions for her GPS app, keeping her eyes trained on it as she walked through the building while maintaining awareness of her surroundings, hearing a rather peculiar remark from someone in the distance along the way

“The store’s this way Broseph.”

‘ _Broseph? That’s not a word you hear often. No matter, I need to focus on the task at hand._ ’

Ignoring the strange comment, Kiana finally arrived in front of the restaurant at 9:55 AM; Kiana taking in a deep breath filled to the brim with anxiety as she checked herself in front of a glass window, her eyes glancing toward a small red hair clip with a white caret symbol on it that she keeps on the right side of her hair, carrying a gentle smile at its presence since it was a gift from her first boyfriend and slowly walked inside, being greeted as soon as she entered

“Welcome, can I show you to a table?”

“Er no, thank you. I actually have a job interview here; I applied for a server job here last night, with an email telling me I have it at 10.”

“The boss actually had to run to handle something that just popped up out of the blue, he’ll be back in an hour. Would you mind waiting for him?”

“No, that’s fine. I’ll wait here.” Although bummed out that she has to wait so long, Kiana bowed in respect as she walked to the corner of the restaurant and sat down at a table, soon seeing another person sit down next to her at a different table, glancing to see a woman that appears to be a similar age to her with rather striking features in her wavy silver hair and purple eyes, wearing a casual vermillion dress. After being approached by the same server, she ordered a mecha tea and a standard order of bacon, scrambled eggs, and hash browns ‘ _Oh yeah, now that I look at the menu, this place does seem to focus more on western cuisine than what we’d see in Japan. Though obviously you wouldn’t necessarily see mecha tea as an option back in the States. Heh, that name always kinda gives me a bit of a chuckle, what with the advent of Gear technology fulfilling what used to be rather extreme science fiction a mere thirty years ago. Who would think that thinking outside the box would lead to such an extreme level of technological advancement._ ’ The woman’s differing appearance aside, what caught her attention was that while the woman was eating with her fork rather meticulously, she also had her focus on a tablet placed on a holder on her right side, carefully drawing something ornate with a tablet pen while avoiding getting any messes on it. Curiosity began to overwhelm her as she turned her head to face her when she heard the sound of muffled snarling, a clear sign of irritation “Something wrong?”

“I’m using a piece of software where I can draw custom Gear designs and test their compatibility with the simulators but I’m getting error messages I’ve never seen before.”

“Want me to look at it? I’m fairly familiar with Gears myself.”

“I doubt you’d be able to figure it out. This goes far beyond simple piloting or engineering prowess of a novice. This is something that would challenge even a professional who’s been in the industry for many a year.”

“You’d be surprised at what you’d see if you widen your perspective a little. Besides, sometimes those very novices can notice things that would slip under a professional’s radar since they’re set in their way. Novices don’t have those biases blinding them. I may not be a professional engineer, but I might be able to ascertain the problem.”

“You know what, fair enough point. Okay then, be my guest.”

Taking a moment to enlarge the respective window so the error log blocks out the design of the Gear, she then passed the display over to Kiana as she slowly scrolled through the document, noticing that she named it as AA: Supernova, musing that it’s just a pet-name or something of the sort. After about ten minutes of reading, she found the source of the issue which took this long since it was becoming increasingly common for these sorts of error reports to read out like novel length tech manuals that novices can never make sense of “I think I got it. Here, take a look.” Gesturing the girl to look at what she is pointing at, highlighting the points via a right-ward swipe, she continued what she was going to say “It’s the weapons and parts you’ve added to the frame. They’re too demanding of the power core and the batteries can’t compensate. In the worst case scenario, it could lead to a severe overload which would damage the Gear’s circuitry. You’ll need to put in a stronger core, downgrade the sophisticated parts, or install some sort of power regulator that can selectively choose what needs to be active based on the moment. That option would still allow some functionality to the frame with all this fancy gear but it’d still end up being at a significant disadvantage in matches and let’s not even get started with War Games. Even the best limiters have a five to ten second latency period and being a sitting duck for that long is risky.”

“Hmm. I see. Thank you stranger. You seem to know your stuff when it comes to Gears.”

“A friend of mine custom built a Gear himself with his dad and he used to regale me with stories of it all, good and bad. Of course, his sister told me of one time where he apparently dropped a blowtorch-” Kiana stopped as she noticed the girl’s face scrunch in unease, her expression suggesting that she is thinking about the image and clearly not liking it “Sorry. If you don’t mind my asking, could I get your name so I don’t have to call you something like Miss Stranger?”

Taking a moment’s pause, the girl looked about the lot as if something was on her mind, Kiana noticing an expression that seemed close to subdued fright, an emotion she herself is familiar with “I...I suppose I could. My name is Rina Raikatuji. What is yours? Oh right. Would you mind if I paid you for this? You really helped me out.”

“Kiana. Kiana Urson. And I can’t accept that. All I did was point something out and gave a suggestion. It’s not something I can accept getting money for.”

“That’s a cute name.” Rina’s voice went soft as she let this compliment escape her, hiding the faintest of smiles with her sleeve “Do you...frequent these premises?”

“Erm, maybe soon? Provided I get hired, yeah, I can imagine so. If I don’t, I think I’ll spend my time in the park close by.”

“Hired? You’re looking for work?”

“Yeah...it’s uh...long story; I’d rather not go into details.”

“I understand. Would you mind if I ask for your contact info? I’ve come across these kinds of error messages before and I’d appreciate your input on how to fix them if you are able.”

“Sure, I mean, I’m not a professional so I can’t fix very complicated problems, but I’ve done plenty of studying into the field of cenorobotics so I think I can at least identify those problems.”

* * *

Exchanging their contact info, Rina put her tablet into a case and went to pay for her meal, leaving after the fact. When the clock had turned to 10:50, Kiana saw a man in a suit enter the restaurant, heading to the back rooms before returning to the floor and gesturing Kiana to follow him after the server spoke with him, though they were soon stopped by the sound of someone approaching before reaching the manager’s office

“Uncle Kaito, I’m ready to start. Do you want me on cooking duty or cleaning dishes?”

“In a moment Nikki. I’m about to have an interview with-”

“Wait, that voice and-” Kiana paused as she turned her head, seeing a familiar face with blonde hair hung in twintails and amber eyes much like her own “Nikki? What are you doing here in Isokaze?”

After taking a single glance at her, Nikki’s eyes went wide “I could ask you the same thing Kiana!”

“You know her Nikki?”

“Yeah. She was one of my brother’s classmates from CINY and teammates in his team. Though we met a few years ago when she was sixteen. She was working as a server for a small buffet restaurant we would go to sometimes and he would eat so much that it frightened her and the other staff. He drove her into stress leave and ended up resigning-”

Hearing Nikki speak of how they met made her both sheepishly frown and groan as she scratched the back of her neck “Ugh, don’t remind me. I wouldn’t be surprised if Tristan still has the appetite of a black hole, it’s as if he was a real-life Kerbi. I mean, he made me see such a ravenous sight five times over that summer. The number of plates I had to grab and clean from him alone was equal to that of multiple families over the course of a week if it were perpetually rush hours. I’ve never seen someone eat like that and it made me think this was a normal thing at places like that.”

“Well, I’ve seen him wolf down sushi like no tomorrow so I can’t say you’re completely exaggerating.”

“So why are you here? Shouldn’t you be back at CINY?”

“I actually decided not to enroll in my second year straight away since I wanted to get some perspective into cenorobotics so I’m taking a year off. Besides, I was told my grandmother passed away so I’m staying here in Isokaze to help pay for the funeral. Actually, if I’m to be honest, I’ve been thinking of transferring next year since I hear Ace Academy has one of the best piloting programs in the world and I hope it’ll help enrich my studies.” Hoping she can maintain the illusion, Kiana gave a half-truth as to why she traveled halfway across the world from New York to Japan to avoid talking about what truly happened. In her mind, she’s secretly hoping that the fact she knows Nikki fairly well, both from the rocky origins in the restaurant, her time as one of Tristan’s classmates, and from times she visited the house alongside others in Hyperdrive for study sessions, would be able to convince her uncle to bypass background checks.

“Normally I don’t do things like this as a regional manager but considering that I live close by this location, the company is fine with letting me have some control here. In light of your circumstances however, I can’t offer you a permanent job here since I’m looking for people who will be staying on a permanent basis and can be present at any time, within reason-” 

Before Kaito could finish speaking, the server who was out on the floor rushed toward him, her previous calm demeanor replaced with dread “Manager, I hate to interrupt, but I got a call from my son’s school! He suddenly got sick-!”

“No need to say anything further Mieko-san. Focus on your family. We’ll excuse your absence.”

“Thank you so much!”

After seeing her leave, Kaito looked back towards Kiana “Okay this puts me in an awkward spot. We only had one server scheduled to work the morning shift today and we tend to get busy during the lunch rush. Can you start immediately?”

“Yes I can sir.”

“Okay good. I’ll work on ratifying your employment. Nikki, I want you to focus on cooking with the others, but keep an ear to the floor in case your friend needs help. You can find a uniform in the back.”

“Sure thing Uncle Kaito.”

* * *

Moving quickly to keep things calm before they have a chance of falling apart, they both headed to their stations, working their assigned shifts, Nikki occasionally having to step in when the restaurant started getting busy, though Kiana was relieved that the crowd was nowhere close to what she would experience during her time at the buffet restaurant back in New York. When they finally finish things at four, when the employees in the evening shift began to show up, Nikki and Kiana left the restaurant and sat down on the edge of a scenic wishing fountain

“I didn’t really get to say it back there, but I’m really surprised to see you here in Isokaze Kiana. Surprised and glad at the same time.”

“You’re telling me. I’m glad there’s people I know here in the city now that my grandmother passed away.” Kiana stopped herself from speaking further about this one subject since she is aware that Nikki’s and Tristan’s parents passed away rather recently and didn’t want to be insensitive by bringing it up, even though she’s experienced the same trauma herself since her parents died in the line of duty as police officers when she was ten years old, responding to a crisis situation.

“Do you have a place to stay?” Amidst the gleeful optimism Nikki had been showing up until now, concern laced her words as she inquired about Kiana’s current living situation since she arrived in Isokaze rather abruptly.

“I’ve booked a room at a hotel nearby. So I’m not going to stray too far from this area right now. The furthest I’ll probably go is the library which I saw nearby right now. One of my grandmother’s neighbors, who knows my family well, is holding onto a lot of my luggage until I can find a place to live.”

“Is there anything I can-”

“Nikki, I know what you’re going to say: I don’t want hand-outs given to me on a whim. I fought to acquire everything I have ever attained in my life and I’m not changing that now. Perfect grades in honor classes, the position I had back at CINY...everything. It’s stupid I know, but pride and excellence is one of the only things I have left of my parents. They encouraged me to strive for this and I’m going to live to that ideal.” Pausing as she began to realize she was raising her voice and attracting attention from it, Kiana picked herself up from where she was sitting “I should go Nikki. I’m kind of exhausted from jet lag. See you later.” She was very much lying and used jet lag as an excuse to leave so she could cool her head, even though she actually is dealing with that right now.

After leaving the mall, Kiana checked the time and found that it’s only 5:30 PM so she has plenty of time before she has to go to sleep. Wanting something meaningful to occupy her time, she pulled out her phone and activated one of its apps

“Ciri, look up nearby entertainment venues tailored to my list.”

[ **There is a library three blocks west. A park two blocks north. A gym four blocks south.** ]

“Okay, based on what you’re telling me, I have a choice of reading books in the library, attending what seems to be some sort of event since I can see tents there in the park, or working out in the gym. They’re all good but I’m only really going to be able to devote myself to one of these with the time I have before I check into the hotel to rest.”

* * *

POV: Rina

Earlier that day, after eating her breakfast and meeting Kiana, Rina left the restaurant as an all-too familiar feeling of being watched emerged as she walked towards the entrance of the mall, stopping when she exited the building for a moment and returned to the vehicle she came to the mall in as a woman with short bluish black hair wearing a plain blue t-shirt and jeans entered the driver side’s door, knowing that she was around since she is a plain clothes guard hired by her parents

“Miss Raikatuji, you know your parents don’t like you talking with strangers as much as you did just now.”

“I needed an engineer to help me solve the issues in my designs.”

“If you needed the help, your parents would hire you one.”

“Any engineer hired in that manner would be interested only in gaining their favor. Reijing Industry’s favor. I want an engineer who doesn’t know my identity so their passion would be genuine. But most of all...never mind. Could you please not tell my parents about this?”

“I’m not going to l-”

“I think they would be interested in hearing you used your monthly budget to buy a Gearling watch for your boyfriend when you’re supposed to use it solely for work purposes Kayoko Hiroto.”

This comment immediately sent the guard into fright, wondering how Rina even found out she did in the first place “So...I won’t say anything if you don’t.”

“Deal.” ‘ _I just want a chance to have a friend again._ ’ While she did have a bit of skepticism towards her at first, when she compared what she heard to what she saw in person, she knew she could trust Kiana. She offered to help a random stranger with such a complicated problem and refused compensation after giving sound advice. In her eyes, she’s incapable of being what she had seen in a newspaper from CINY, Rina being acquainted with every major school in some way or form because of the intricate relationship she has with the field of cenorobotics, noting one recent article she was able to download as it was very short lived since it was redacted within hours of its publishing per request for further investigation by an outside party since they had doubts as to its legitimacy.


	2. Chapter 2

Deciding to spend her time with a bit of peace and quiet, texting Takao with the address of the hotel she’ll be staying at, asking him to bring her luggage there around 8 or 9, Kiana walked in the direction of the library, soon approaching the ornate building made out of shined stone, the style slightly reminiscent of what would be found in ancient Rome, with tinted glass windows which were designed to help filter out sunlight so it wouldn’t intrude on the interior, and climbed up the stairs and opened the door, slightly shivering at how she was blasted with the cold air of the AC systems in place as she rubbed her hands on her arms

“Brrr...why did I not bring my hoodie with me? Oh right, it’s because of how warm it is outside and I didn’t want to be sweltering underneath a black hoodie.”

Doing her best to shrug off the cold, Kiana walked towards some of the bookshelves as she inspected some of the books contained within and when she found one that seemed intriguing to her, she reached out a hand towards it, pausing when another person’s hand almost intersected with hers, making Kiana turn her head to the right to see a girl with pink hair and blue eyes

“Oh, I’m sorry!”

“No, it’s fine, you go ahead. I’m just looking around.”

Taking a step backward, the girl pulled out what seemed to be a doctorate’s book about physio-therapy, giving a thankful nod to Kiana as she walks away to a table, allowing Kiana to resume her search through the bookshelf as she runs a finger across it while maintaining some small space between them as she reads off each title in her mind, one title catching her attention

“Erm...it’s called...Vrjtl wn Cjntki Qodcbhzqcc? _What the heck_ is this _chicken scratch_ even supposed to be?! There are Ls so this is in English at least.” Despite having zero clue what the title is meant to represent, her only guess that this is some sort of cipher, she pulled it off the shelf and walked toward a nearby empty table, reading a few chapters to find that it’s apparently a sci-fi novel about some mercenaries oriented in a space age setting “Okay, I’m not going to continue reading this. The author needs to learn to give his written works better naming conventions with the titles. At least it’s more creative than a fool who would make it something like ‘Traveler’s Song’ or something dumb like that.”

Irritated at this turn of events, she put the book back in its place and looked for a different book to read, her eyes stopping at something else

“The Fall of the Spear Hero? This one seems interesting, I wonder if it’s a low fantasy sort of setting. I’ve tried reading high fantasy but I’m just not the biggest fan of conventional black and white morality. I like it when the line between heroes and villains can be blurred. Especially since the stakes are far graver since it’s more grounded in reality.” Giving this one a try, Kiana once again looked through a few of its chapters “Ugh, this guy is a womanizer. At least he doesn’t look like your run of the mill harem protagonist. Maybe he’ll go through some character development as the story goes on. I think I’ll buy a copy when I can get my feet on the ground.”

Returning this book to the shelf, she looked through it more as she found a title written in Latin: Exo Terra Fractus, which she believes is translated as Broken Vivarium. Checking out some of the details on her tablet, she found a small wikia fan-site dedicated to it “This one seems interesting. The world is called...Terra. Huh. There isn’t that much listed here. Oh, it’s because it only started a month ago. But the amount of dialogue and exposition is almost obscene. No wonder it advised having a lot of free time before reading it. I’m definitely liking this concept based on what I’m seeing here.”

Returning the book back to its place in the shelf, Kiana slightly puffed out her cheeks in irritation since, although she knows that patience is something to be treasured, she usually has a good eye for quality, but something that catches her eye is a rare book about cenorobotics that never went digital and had less than fifty copies printed because of an interesting quirk of the writer since he said he only wanted those who truly value it to possess it, of course, it’s not always the case where the author gets their way since a number have found themselves manually printed though they tend to be short-lived once this author found out. The very idea that she came across one of these copies is astounding since she’s wanted to find it for quite some time now.

“Oh my god, this book is so rare that it’s impossible to find even on auction sites and even if you do, it’s expected to have to pay at least ten grand to even have a chance to get this book!”

* * *

“Excuse me but-Oh, Miss Urson. It’s good to see you again.” Kiana was immediately pulled by her excited stupor when she heard a familiar quiet-like voice, turning to see Rina, wearing a baby blue colored silk dress with a shawl covering her shoulders, lace white gloves, and long boots, a contrast to what she was wearing earlier this morning.

“Miss Raikatuji, what are you doing here?”

“I’ve been informed that a rare cenorobotics book recently found its way here and my parents approved of me seeking it out and purchasing it. They’ve already cleared it through the channels necessary and given me the funds to acquire it.”

“A rare book?” ‘ _Wait, is she talking about this one here?_ ’ “D-Do you mean this one?” Kiana was hesitant in revealing the book since this is something she’s been interested in ever since she developed her interest in GEARs and anything associated with them since this book was something akin to the Holy Grail; this book is like the ultimate guide to the profession. In her mind, she wanted to resist it as much as a child would at the prospect of losing her favorite toy but did her utmost to build up the maturity to not let such feelings submerge her.

Presenting the book to Rina, she glanced at the cover as a gleeful smile escaped her lips “It is!” Rina paused a moment when a thought emerged in her mind when she glanced at the scene in front of her “You were reading that?”

“Yeah. It’s something I’ve actually been looking to read ever since I took up cenorobotics as a field of study.”

“I see. Do you mind if we talk in that empty booth there?”

Kiana nodded as they headed to the booth, passing by the girl she had seen earlier when she grabbed her first book who is sitting down at a table with a girl with shoulder-length blue hair and amber eyes, jokingly wondering if something in the water is making it where people are developing the same sort of eye color though the flaw in the joke is that both she and Nikki grew up in the US; though at the same time, she does know that they both have some japanese lineage.

“Before we start anything, could I inquire if the job you have at that cafe is permanent?”

“Sadly no. I’m a temporary employee and it’s capped at a month. I’ll just keep looking for these kinds of jobs until I can secure both a place to live and a sustainable job.”

“That is not exactly the wisest of moves. Surely you know that companies may look down on you having a large number of temporary jobs on your belt. They’ll consider you untrustworthy.”

“I’m aware, but I don’t have all that many options.”

“You certainly are determined. But something baffles me. I’m going on the presumption that, because of your knowledge of GEARs, you’re enrolling in some manner of cenorobotics, but is there a reason why you decided to come to Isokaze for it?"

“Well...I came to Isokaze since I believed I’d have a second chance to have a stable life when I was talking with my grandmother a while ago. She asked me to move out here but she passed away very suddenly yesterday. It’s too costly for me to move to another country right now. And I can’t ask my uncle for help since he’s already strained on cash trying to support himself and everything he’s done for me up until now.”

“I’m sorry for your loss. Now, I want you to think about this before making a decision, but as a show of appreciation for earlier when you helped me solve an issue that had been plaguing me repeatedly over the past month, I’d like to offer you employment as a personal GEAR engineer when your tenure is complete. I applied the solution you pointed out to my designs that were laced with bugs and those ones were eradicated in a heartbeat. I’d genuinely appreciate having your help in the future.”

Kiana double-took in surprise at what Rina had just offered, taking a moment to process what she just heard “Yeah, I will need to think about this, but I’d like to ask: Why me? I’m not really an engineer. I only studied the process to try minimizing the costs of maintaining my GEAR. If you’re going to go so far to hire someone to work for you, shouldn’t you invest in a professional?”

“I very much believe in the idea of cultivating talent. The future is built upon inspiring youth to enter fields they find themselves passionate about for the betterment of all.” ‘ _She backed me into a corner with that question. I hope this is satisfactory enough for her. I doubt she’d take the idea that I’m doing all just to get a friend seriously. I wouldn’t blame her if she found it creepy. According to her psych profile recorded by CINY, Miss Urson has a lot of pride and isn't one to accept charity, but I believe I just found a way to work with this._ ’

“Yout-Pardon me, but it’s strange to hear from someone who looks like they’re still in high school.”

“Age is but a number.” Rina paused as she pulled out a cell phone and looked at the screen “I’m really sorry Miss Urson, but I need to get going. I was only allowed a brief respite from my studies to buy this book. Please, take some time to think about what I offered and give me a call.”

Nodding in acknowledgement, they walk out of the booth as Rina walks towards the front counter to speak with the librarian to settle the matter about the book as Kiana went to look at some of the other books available, sitting down with the two girls she had passed by earlier after having been given the offer to, since she saw there weren’t any other tables available and the booth she was in had been checked out, learning their names: Yuuna Misaki and Mayu Akemi though she kept conversation to a minimum since she noticed that they were focusing on school work while she was just aimlessly reading so she didn’t want to interrupt them too much.

‘ _Akemi? Why does that name sound...familiar?_ ’ Kiana unfortunately drew a blank since she’s so sure she heard of the name somewhere but she struggled to find a connection and decided to push it to the side.

After noticing she had spent two and a half hours just reading books, she was interrupted by the sound of her stomach rumbling which sent a nervous blush to her cheeks as she gave a wordless farewell to the pair.

* * *

Leaving the library, she pulled out her phone and looked for the closest restaurant that has modest prices since she needs to be as frugal as possible. While it’d be easier for her to simply buy food at the hotel, it would rack up her bill far too much on her meager finances and her pride won’t let her take more sustainable options since it’d force her to rely on other people. She hates this sort of thinking especially when it’s becoming self-destructive for her well-being but it’s too deeply ingrained into her psyche, even when she learned how difficult it was being an obscene perfectionist, having to change her opinions very quickly since her ability to maintain composure was being strained after only six months so she decided to backpedal slightly to strive to do her best but she would never force herself to be considered top of the class.

With luck, she found a teishoku restaurant advertised close by with prices at a low 500-1000 yen and after a short ten minute walk, she found the building and walked in after noticing its open hours on a plaque outside the door [10 AM to 10 PM], a lucky break for her since it is about 7 PM. Entering the building, she found that it carries a rather rustic style with tatami flooring and short tables with mats serving as their seating material, the kitchen being exposed with a stylized bay window and a bar table in front of the wall dividing the dining area from the kitchen, Kiana noticing a strange sight in how there are no customers despite it still being a few hours from closing.

“Maybe it’s normal for these guys? It _is_ pretty late after all.” Despite the absolute silence filling her with confusion, Kiana sat down at one of the tables, waiting five and then ten minutes “O-kay, I’m starting to think no one is here. I think I’ll-” Before Kiana could pull herself from the mat, she heard the door open.

“How could you forget to lock up if you were going to leave Stella?!”

“Hey, mom called me saying she urgently needed help at home with the kids so I was in a frantic rush, Esme! I made sure to lock up the money and everything else. Besides, there haven’t been any customers here for over an-” Stella paused as her glance shifted towards Kiana, her own trained on them as she noticed their pink hair and green eyes “-hour…” Stella paused as her body began to shake in unease “Awawawa~...H-How long have you been here? D-Did anyone else come by here?”

“No, it’s just been me. And to answer the first question, only about ten minutes.”

“Oh thank goodness.” Stella wiped her head to get rid of the nervous sweat, with a gentle pat on her shoulder from Esme.

“Go help mom. We’re closing up shop soon anyway.” Smiling and nodding in acknowledgement, Stella rushed out the door again as Esme calmly walked toward the kitchen.

“Erm, if you need to close early, I can spare you the effort of getting everything prepared just for me.”

“Don’t worry about it. We made the mistake of not making it clear we were closing down early today and kept a customer waiting in the process.” Esme had been talking with her back towards Kiana, returning with a menu in her hands “Here’s what we have to offer. Just let me know what you want and I’ll get to work. Just be aware that if you ask for anything big, it’ll take me a while to get it made.”

Kiana took a few minutes to read through the menu as she heard the sounds of the kitchen appliances being turned on when she finally noticed Esme return with a small notepad in her hand “If you have it available, I’ll take a tonkatsu, pork cutlet, karaage, tempura, and ebi furai set with a side of tamagoyaki.”

“Good choice.” Esme chuckled as she wrote down what Kiana had ordered “This should take about twenty or thirty minutes. I hope you don’t mind waiting.”

“That’s fine.” After a few minutes passed, Kiana felt her cell phone vibrate, checking it to see that she’s receiving a call from a familiar face, or rather name: Sienna Miller, one of her oldest friends, who went so far as to attend the same boarding school she went to before CINY ‘ _Wait, shouldn’t it be 5:30 in the morning right now?_ ’ Kiana had to double check her math to be sure she had it right, comparing 7:30 PM as it is now to what it is in New York.

* * *

[ **K-Kiana! I just heard the craziest rumor about you in CINY!! Did you really do what they’re saying?!** ]

[ **I know what you’re talking about but no, I’m not the one responsible for that Sienna. I was framed but they’ve covered their tracks so there’s no clear evidence to prove my innocence. I got careless and let myself into a situation where all the cards were played against me and all parties were committed to helping Lara. With the way things were going, I didn’t have much of a choice but to move to Japan.** ]

[ **He’s just a beat cop, sure, but my brother knows that area well. I’ll ask him to check things out.** ]

[ **I’m not in any position to stop you, but I really don’t want you guys getting involved. Hyperdrive’s pilots were vicious since I didn’t have any sort of ‘pedigree’ with GEARS and hated that I was ranked so highly despite my ‘inexperience’.** ]

[ **Kiana, this goes beyond you on this one. I know you’re not the sort to lie about things this severe and if they really had the motivation to do this sort of thing, it could create a bad precedent for other teams and perhaps other schools with elitist members!** ]

[ **I...I suppose you have a point. Okay then.** ]

[ **I’ll speak with him tonight and I’ll keep you in the lo-** ] The fact that this call abruptly ended baffled Kiana since Sienna was never the sort to leave something like this unfinished. Even if she was in a hurry to attend a morning class, she would never hang up on her without giving a goodbye of some form, and what doesn’t help the matter is that Sienna had said she doesn’t have classes that early in the day before so she shouldn’t be in any rush. Of course, something that amplifies the unease was that when she attempted to call her back, she received an automated message [ **The person you are attempting to call is outside service range, please try again later.** ]

* * *

“The heck? New York shouldn’t have that bad a service. Did her internet go out or something?” Kiana was pulled from her thoughts about the call when she noticed Esme returning with the food she had ordered though she was surprised to see two orders of it “Erm, I didn’t order two.”

“This one is yours and this is for me. I was at the gym earlier today and I’m beat. I figured I’d eat with you if you don’t mind.”

“No, I don’t mind.”

“Thank you.”

Sitting herself down across from Kiana, Esme was about to open her packaged meal but stopped for a moment as she looked up to face Kiana, who gave her blessings in ‘Itadakimasu’ and had a slice of tamagoyaki in her chopsticks “I wanted to say, and I’ll admit it sounds cheesy and I hope you get what I mean, but I’m relieved that it’s you who ended up being here. Look, let me explain. We’ve had to deal with customers with zero patience and...uh...temperamental ones who always ask to speak to management when they’re not happy about whatever the matter is at the time before. My sister usually isn’t the sort to let these sorts of things happen so I’m relieved you were here to keep the place from being robbed.”

“I get where you’re coming from. I’ve worked in an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant before. Especially-” Kiana instinctively shivered as the thought of that specific kind of customer surfaced in her mind, having dealt with the sort back in New York “ _Those_ sorts of customers.”

“Oh geez, if even half the horrors I’ve heard about those sorts of places are true, you have my deepest sympathies.”

“Thank you.”

“I must say, your accent is quite different. I take it you’re not from around here?”

“Nope. I recently moved here to Isokaze; well, kinda. It’s complicated. I’d rather not talk about it.”

“I understand. I wouldn’t want to know if it’s bad.”

* * *

Slowing down the conversations to focus on eating, Kiana ate the food in front of her as she keep the corner of her eye on her cellphone in case she were to receive a text message from Sienna as she finally finished her meal

“Thanks for the meal. So how much do I owe you?”

“This time around, nothing.”

“H-Huh? Why? You guys have a business here, you surely can’t afford to just give out meals.”

“I got a few reasons. 1) You kept us from potentially getting robbed so I’m thankful for that. 2) You were patient and polite when my sister forgot to lock up the place in addition to the fact it took me a while to warm up the appliances and get the food cooked. And 3) Well, you’re a decent conversation partner to talk with.”

Kiana nervously scratched her cheek after hearing these sincere compliments, it’s a weakness of hers that tends to make her a tad pliable and has a tendency to push her pride to the side “Erm, thanks. I think?” Taking a look at a clock on the wall, she sees that it’s now 8 PM “I should get going. I really like the aesthetic you guys have in this restaurant here so I think I’ll come here again.”

“I hope you’re not expecting this kind of luxury treatment every time. This was a one-time thing.”

“I’m not that selfish a person.”

* * *

Laughing in response, Esme washed the containers she used for the meals, Kiana leaning against the wall next to the door, waiting for her to lock up as a show of concern. Once everything is sorted out, Kiana walked in the direction of the hotel she’s staying at, seeing Takao there like she asked earlier and with her luggage secured, she checked into the hotel, grabbed her key to the room: C-109 and was pleasantly surprised to see that the size of the room was nearly two and a half times bigger than what she’d expect out of a very inexpensive business hotel with all the works, having expected it to be almost like a small shack big enough to house a bed, desk, either a small CRT-like TV or a wall-mounted one, a fridge, and a unit bath in an enclosed alcove

“Wow, this is a pretty fancy room. I thought I’d have to spend at least twenty grand a day to have a room this nice-” Kiana was interrupted as she covered her mouth to deeply yawn “Ooh...boy...it’s been a long day. I’m going to take a shower and then go to bed.”

Getting her affairs in order, Kiana freshened herself up and tucked herself into bed “I hope things will work out for me since I need to find a way to get grandma’s cremation fees paid for. 3.5 million yen or about thirty four grand. That’s not going to be an easy feat to pull off. I’ll ponder my options tomorrow. Worst case scenario, I’ll take out a loan and use that to pay the fees and work off the debt over time, but it would mean that I doubt I’d be able to attend university for a couple of years. This is _not_ a fun thing to think about.”

**Author's Note:**

> Okay everyone, this is a special project I’ve been working on for the last couple of weeks and I’m glad to say that I’ve been working with the head of Pixelfade: Dishu himself to ascertain details about the lore here in Ace Academy that’s not explicitly mentioned in the game itself, which really helped development along its course, even if he was unbelievably vague and unhelpful with any of the questions I had, which forced me to improvise on more than I’d like.
> 
> Hahaha, I’m just joking on that one, he trolls people so I’m going to do the same to him. I genuinely do appreciate that he was willing to go so far to help me out when it was far more likely that I’d be rebuked or ignored for these kinds of matters if I had consulted other developers since I’m just a random nerd in an ocean of people.
> 
> I’m also just as thankful to have Butlee‘s aid over on the Pixelfade discord server for feedback and critique on this story, especially with matters I’m not overly familiar with, like when I talked about Kiana’s mechanical expertise with Gears.
> 
> Now, this is something that’s been fairly long in the works (not that I mind waiting if the results justify it, which it surely did in this case.) but I’m glad to say that I even went so far as to commission an amazing artist over on twitter who goes by flightless_birb to get a drawing made of Kiana and I’m extremely ecstatic about the end result here: twitter(dot)com/flightless_birb/status/1320550150528397312
> 
> Lastly, as you may think from how I ended the story (barring Rina’s POV at the end), I’m actually going to emulate a visual novel style in this story to an extent so in certain chapters like this, I’ll write in a number of choices for Kiana to participate in for the chapter following it and you all can vote for which ‘route’ you’d want Kiana to go with. I’ll stick with Strawpoll to handle these things. All I’ll say about the three options this time: the park, the library, and the gym, is that is that each one would have Kiana meet both a member of her future team and a member of ACE-2049-11.


End file.
